Apart from knocking other boxers in the ring, Fatuma Zarika is also a caring mother. The super bantamweight champion is a mother of two girls.
Fatuma is the first Kenyan to ever win a World Boxing Council (WBC) global title. She outclassed Zambian Catherine Phiri to retain her title in a tight fight at Carnivore grounds on December 2nd 2017.
Fighting aside, Fatuma is a mother of two grown girls. Her first daughter Sophia Vuteme Zarika is 20 years old while her younger daughter Halima Zarika a form four student at Emmaus Secondary School in Embakasi.
Fatuma Zarika (centre) with her daughters Halima (left) and Sophia
She is a father and mother to us
Fatima Zarika raised her two beautiful daughters as a single mother. She is a typical mother contrary to what anyone would think of boxers.
“My mother is everything to us, but I will definitely say she is hardworking and brilliant. She has been a father and mother to me and my sister and I can’t say more. she is ambitious, funny, forgiving, generous and a good leader,” Sophia Zarika said in an interview with People Daily.
Fatuma Zarika with her daughter Sophia
Sophia says that her mother is a very simple woman at home. She reveals that Zarika does all chores at home and even has time for them despite her busy schedule.
“It is simple when it comes to my mother. She has two different shades that people don’t know about. At home she does chores, cooks, plays around with us and something about her always brings our family together,” said Sophia.
Kenyan boxer Fatuma Zarika will defend her World Boxing Council (WBC) super bantamweight title against former world champion Catherine Phiri from Zambia.
The much-awaited fight will be held at Carnivore Grounds in Nairobi on December 2nd 2017. Zakira is expected to retain her title because statistics favor her.
Below are 5 reasons why Zarika is favorite to win Saturday December 2nd fight:
Zarika is a more experienced fighter
Fatuma Zarika flaunts her muscles
Fatuma Zarika started professional boxing in 2003. She has fought a total of 43 fights. The Kenyan boxer has won 29 fights, lost 12 and drew 2. Zarika has fought several international boxers from America and Europe in her boxing career.
Zambia’s Catherine Phiri began professional boxing career in 2011 and has only fought a total of 15 fights. She has faced off with less international boxers in her career compared to her opponent Zarika.
Zarika last lost a fight in 2015
Fatuma Zarika during her fight with Puerto Rican boxer Amanda Serrano
Zarika was last defeated in October 9th 2015 when she faced off with Puerto Rican boxer Amanda Serrano at the Space at Westbury, New York City, USA.
Zarika however went on to win World Boxing Council (WBC) super bantamweight title on 1st October 2016 when she defeated American boxer Alicia Ashley.
Catherine Phiri was last defeated on 1st April 2017 by Mexican fighter Mariana Juarez. The Zambian was aiming to reclaim the WBC super bantamweight title (she won the title on January 30th 2016 when she defeated Mexican boxer Yazmin Rivas).
Zarika has NEVER lost a fight on home ground
Fatuma Zarika when she won the World Boxing Council (WBC) Super Bantam weight title.
The closest Fatuma Zarika came to lose a fight in Kenya was on 13th December 2003 when she faced off with veteran boxer Conjestina Achieng. The fight which was held at Nyayo National Stadium ended in a draw.
Catherine Phiri has lost fights both in Zambia and abroad.
SportPesa training camp
Fatuma Zarika during training
Gaming company SportPesa flew Zarika to America in September 2017 for training at a world class boxing training facility.
Zarika trained for two months at Berry’s Boxing Gym in Las Vegas ahead of the December 2nd boxing match with Catherine Phiri.
The Kenyan boxer is well trained for the fight compared to her rival. She has the backing of SportPesa who have been providing all the support that she needs.
Fatuma Zarika preparing for a boxing match
Meanwhile another SportPesa initiate ‘Tujiamini’ is looking for talented young Kenyans to provide them with a platform to nurture their talents.
Are you a talented boxer, or football player, maybe an athlete or swimmer who hasn’t found a platform to launch your career?
If you are talented in any field of sports and your career hasn’t blossomed, then Tujiamini initiative is looking for you.
Nominate or share a story of an upcoming sports talent on Tujiamini platform for a chance for them to be discovered.
Fatuma Zarika with legendary boxer Mike Tyson
By nominating a talent or sharing a story of upcoming sports talent, they will get:
1.Exposure
2.Selected talents will get an access to training camps
3.Sportpesa will also facilitate an introduction of selected talents to relevant sports clubs
Click the link below to nominate any talented person you know:
They started out as amateurs but determination drove them to new heights than they could have possibly imagined.
Forget the scores and stats, there are a handful of Kenyan sportsmen and women who have inspired the world by sheer display of resilience and desire to achieve success when all odds were against them.
The list below illuminates sportsmen and women whose inspirational stories scream loudly at mankind the message that nothing is impossible when we believe in ourselves. The message of ‘Tujiamini’:
Philip Boit, Cross-country skier
Phillip Boit
80% of Kenyans probably don’t know what cross-country skiing is all about. Is it even a sport to start with? Cross-country skiing is one of the sports contested in Winter Olympic games.
The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia received scant attention in Kenya thanks to Philip Boit. He is the first Kenyan to participate in a Winter Olympics event. Boit’s first event was the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.
The Kenyan had only seen snow for the first time in his life in 1996. A former middle-distance runners with no previous skiing experience, Boit began training in February 1996 before he represented Kenya in 1998 Winter Olympics where he finished 92nd and last in the 10-kilometer classic race.
The awards for the race were delayed while the winner Bjørn Dæhlie waited for Boit to reach the finish line so that he could hug him. The experience was so moving for Boit that he named one of his sons Dæhlie Boit.
Philip Boit at the1998 Winter Olympics in Japan
Maasai Cricket Warriors
Maasai Cricket Warriors playing cricket
Nearly all international media houses covered the story of a group of amateur Maasai warriors who dropped their spears to play cricket.
The Maasai Cricket Warriors from Laikipia are using their love for the game to convey messages and awareness against social injustices in their community.
The warriors are actively campaigning against degenerating and destructive cultural practices such as Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and early childhood marriages, which are vigorously donating to the spread and increase in the cases of HIV/AIDS.
The warriors use cricket to empower girls and woman, target substance and alcohol abuse, animal poaching and strive to build peace amongst communities.
The Maasai warriors took up cricket in 2009. They were introduced to the game by Aliya Bauer, a South African woman conducting research in the area who was missing the sport she loved. She brought over some equipment from her home country and started teaching the locals to play.
The warriors’ love for cricket soon attracted a great deal of media attention. The cricket warriors were the subject of a documentary in 2015.
Maasai Cricket Warrior in action
Julius Yego
Julius Yego
‘Mr. YouTube’ boasts of Olympic silver medal in javelin and mark you he learned how to throw by watching YouTube videos of javelin athletes.
Yego became interested in the javelin throw as a youth but he had no access to training facilities or a coach. This however didn’t stop him from realizing his dream, he thought himself how to throw by watching YouTube clips.
Yego won his first national title in the javelin at the age of 19 in 2008, and defended it in both 2009 and 2010.
He boasts of other medals including Olympic silver medal which he won in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic games.
Yego scooped gold medals in World Championships (Beijing, 2015), Commonwealth Games (Glasgow 2014), All-Africa Games (2011) and African Championships (2012 and 2014).
Julius Yego in action
Fatuma Zarika
Fatuma Zarika when she won the World Boxing Council (WBC) Super Bantam weight title.
She started out as an amateur boxer in Mathare and ended up being the first Kenyan female boxer to win the World Boxing Council (WBC) Super Bantam weight title.
Zarika grew up in Riruta satellite estate before she moved to Mathare North slum after her mother passed away. She decided to be a boxer after watching Laila Ali in action, the thrill of seeing Ali punch opponents to submission drove Zarika into boxing.
Zarika started training in 2000 and fought in several amateur games before turning professional in 2001. Just like other Kenyan boxers, Zarika faced major challenges due to lack of support, recognition and goodwill from stakeholders.
Fatuma Zarika preparing for a boxing match
Zarika however received the much-needed support when SportPesa decided to sponsor her. SportPesa helped her access world class training facilities. In September 2017, Zarika left Kenya for Los Angeles, US where she trained at Berry’s Boxing Gym ahead of the boxing match with Zambia’s Catherine Phiri.
